


let our battles choose us

by darksideofmyroom



Series: we’re barely holding on [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Humor, Hurt Peter Parker, I should probably accept the fact that I can't write prose, Kinda, Matt Murdock Needs a Hug, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Season/Series 02, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Whump, somewhere before the defenders, this is self indulgent as heck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 06:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16614050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darksideofmyroom/pseuds/darksideofmyroom
Summary: "some people are born to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. just a few ones manage to not get crushed"Peter meets the Devil of Hell's Kitchen and Tony keeps finding new gray hairs.





	let our battles choose us

It’s almost midnight, and the weather is quite perfect. It hasn’t been devastatingly cold in a few months and the suffocating heat of New York summer still feels far away enough for Peter not to worry about.

 

Today was a good patrol. The kind that keeps a smile on his face when he’s done, the kind that makes him feel somewhat proud of himself, of what he’s doing.

He gave some lost Korean tourists directions, helped a woman look for her dog and he even stopped a car theft.

 

He’s swinging around to see if there’s anything he can help with before he starts making his way back home, when he hears it.

 

“I don’t give a shit Johnson, you already know what’s coming to you if you don’t do do as we tell you”

 

Peter looks down from the old building he’s standing on to the dark alley right below him.

 

There are two men, the one he heard is speaking on the phone and the tone of his voice is dangerously aggressive. He’s somewhere in his thirties and he has shoulder length hair and a badly kept beard.

The other man is about the same age, but he looks completely different from what Peter guesses must be his associate. He’s wearing a suit and an earpiece, which kind of reminds him of Happy. His hair is gelled back.

It takes a longer second for Peter to locate the gun in his jacket, and if he had any doubt whether he ran into criminals or not, they’ve completely disappeared by now.

 

“I’d better see you tonight, or you should get ready to deal with the consequences” the first man speaks into the phone before hanging up.

 

Peter crouches down to make sure they can’t see him, then he whispers: “Karen?”

 

“Yes Peter?”

 

“Can you ID those guys for me, please?”

 

“Of course.” she pulls up a picture of the first man “Kevin Cox, 37. He has a criminal record for possession and traffic of drugs. He also reportedly worked with bigger criminal associations” she then proceeds to show him a picture of the other thug “Charles Hughes, 34. I couldn’t find much information about him, which suggests his files must have been encrypted.”

 

He hums “Well that can’t be good news”

 

“Indeed. I believe it would be best to contact Mister Stark before engaging any further in the investigation”

 

“It’s okay Karen, I’ve got this”

He brings his attention back to the two perps. Hughes looks around as if to make sure no one’s after them, then he speaks up “Let’s get moving”

 

Cox nods at him and starts walking ahead.

 

Peter decides it’s probably best for him to wait until they’ve gotten a little bit further before starting to follow them.

 

They’ve just gotten out of the alley when his spidey sense starts flaring and he has just enough time to turn to his side before something hits him straight in the face. Hard.

He can’t help but gasp in surprise as he falls to his butt and his vision clouds for a longer second.

 

He blinks up at the figure before him, trying to think through the fog in his head. It takes him moment to focus up, and when he does he finds himself staring at red eyes and horns.

 

“Dude, what the hell was that for?”

 

The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen doesn’t even look down on him, his head turned towards the direction where the two men were walking.

 

It’s a little intimidating how unreadable the older vigilante looks to Peter.

He knows that despite his efforts he always somehow exposes the way he’s feeling during a fight. He knows that some criminals can tell when he’s scared, no matter how hard he tries to cover it up with his babbling.

 

“You should go home, kid”

 

“What? No! Those guys looked shady, I was about to follow them before you hit me with…” he looks at the red metal baton lying next to him “a stick? Seriously?”

 

“I have it handled, Spider-Man, you can go”

 

“But I could help!”

 

Daredevil finally tuns his eyes on him “Listen, kid. I need information from those guys. I know who they work for, and trust me, this is something a bit too big for you to start fooling around with”

 

Peter scoffs “I can handle big, and I’m not a kid”

 

The older man gives him a little smirk, like what he said is amusing to him.

“Yeah well, it’s not up for discussion”

He turns around with the intention to take off but Peter speaks before he has the chance to leave.

 

“Hey, I just wanna be helpful” he says as he gets back up on his feet “I know what I usually do is not much, and that you handle of bigger stuff than I do. But I just wanna keep my city safe, you know? And I know I could help you with this, I know this is something I can take.”

 

The vigilante turns to look at him, his whole composure softer.

“This is not something you’ve gotta do”

 

And God knows how many times May told him the same thing after she found out about Spider-Man, tears in her eyes as she tried to understand, no matter how much it pained her.

How many times Peter could read the same sentence in Tony’s eyes when he ended up getting hurt.

But he never believes them, he knows they’re wrong.

 

“Yes, yes it is”

 

That’s something May and Tony know far too well now, something Peter could never forget.

And apparently Daredevil knows the feeling just as well, Peter can tell by his body language, and he realises that perhaps he is not hard to read at all.

 

The Devil sighs, surrendering.

“Alright, you can come along. But you’ll do as I say, alright?”

 

“Yes! Yes, thank you!”

 

Even though Peter can’t see behind his mask, he knows he rolled his eyes at that.

 

“We’re gonna follow them as quietly as you can manage. We need to get to their meeting point before they meet up with the rest-“

 

“Wait, there’s more guys? Shouldn’t I know more about who we’re dealing with?”

 

“No” is the curt reply he gets “All you need to know is we’ll be dealing with about five more crooks once we’ve taken care of these two. What you’re gonna do is disarm them, web them up and when I tell you to get out, you get the hell out”

 

“Got it.” He looks over the roof and his stomach lurches when he realises he can’t see nor hear the men anymore “Oh my God, we’ve lost them”

 

Daredevil doesn’t seem phased in the slightest by Peter’s statement.

 

“Relax” he tells him “I can still hear them”

 

“Oh, good. Wait, you can hear them? You’ve got supersenses too? That’s so cool! They must be super heighten, how do you deal with that? I get sensory overload all the time and my senses aren’t half as-“

 

“We’re not going to have this conversation now”

 

“Oh, right. Sorry”

 

“Peter, I would like to remind you that your aunt is still waiting up for you” Karen interrupts, her voice sounding slightly berating, somehow.

 

“Shoot, send her a text telling her I’m okay and that she can go to bed. Tell her I’m sorry I kept her waiting”

 

“Who the hell are you talking to?”

 

“My AI”

 

Daredevil stares at him.

 

“Done” she tells him.

 

“Thanks, Karen”

 

The older vigilante stiffens visibly at the name, but he seems to quickly pull himself out of it as he asks “You ready to go?”

 

He nods excitedly “Yeah”

 

 

* * *

 

 

They followed Hughes and Cox to a warehouse. He didn’t even know what their names were at first, but the kid’s AI turned out to be more useful than he would have thought.

 

They’ve got enough time, and if luck happens to be on their side, they might be able to do this quickly and painlessly.

 

The kid is sticking to wall - apparently that’s something he does - and he’s trying to reach a window so he can see inside.

He waits for a second before he makes sign for him to come down.

 

Spider-Man jumps off the wall and lands quietly on his feet. Matt can hear his heart beat fast in his chest.

 

“I couldn’t see them, the window is pretty much black”

 

“Hughes is standing right behind that door” he whispers, pointing to his right “I’ll go in first, take care of him. You’ll go for Cox, he’s standing about twenty feet apart”

 

“Woah you just sensed all that?”

 

Matt decides to ignore him as he carries on explaining his plan: “Then you’re going to web them up, and we’ll wait for the others. Once we’ve taken care of them as well, you’ll go home and I’ll get to ask my questions. Everything clear?”  
  
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ve got it”

 

The kid’s heartbeat is erratic at this point, he can hear him blowing his breath in an attempt to calm himself down.

 

For a second he regrets letting him come.

He can tell he’s young.

Scratch that, he’s pretty much a child, and Matt is the one bringing him into this.

 

Is he the one dragging children into wars, now?

 

No, the kid wants to do this, he wants to protect his people, he wants to do everything he can to keep his city safe.

No one’s making him do it, he started on his own, and just like Matt, he can’t stop. He probably won’t stop until he’s dead.

 

But he’s still a kid, and he’s scared. So Matt forces himself to smile as he tells him “Hey, it’s gonna be fine”

 

Spider-Man nods repeatedly, as if trying to force himself to believe it.

 

“Alright, let’s do this” he moves towards the door, the younger vigilante following him quietly.

 

He waits for the kid to nod, silently telling him he’s ready, before kicking the door open and bursting in.

 

Hughes takes a step back in surprise and it takes him a second longer to pull out his gun.

 

Matt takes advantage of the moment and the poor grip he has on the gun by swatting it right out of his hand.

 

Hughes is quite quick to recover, and he throws a punch towards his jawline.

 

He intercepts the blow by gripping his fist and twisting his arm, causing him to grunt in pain and for his posture to crumble, right the second he hears Cox pull out his own gun and aim it at him.

He’s preparing to get down in order to avoid the bullet when he hears a ‘twip’, followed by the gun hitting the ground./p>

 

“Sorry to interrupt, guys. Hope you don’t mind us tagging along!” Spider-Man quips as Matt sweeps Hughes’ legs out from under his body.

 

He proceeds by folding the arm he’s gripping on his back, then doing the same with the other. He crouches down and puts a foot on his back to keep him still.

 

Meanwhile Spider-Man is quick to immobilise Cox by webbing his arms to his torso and his legs together.

 

“Look at you! A human burrito!” he says before hurrying to Matt’s side and webbing Hughes to the ground.

 

He has to recognise those web things are really useful.

 

“That was good team work, Daredevil”

 

Matt is about to answer but the sound of a car pulling up right outside gets his attention.

 

“They’re here” he announces.

 

“How many?”

 

He focuses on their heartbeats“Four”

 

“Alright. Let’s finish this then” Spider-Man says as he sticks a web to the ceiling, pulling himself up and sticking to it.

Matt can almost hear the adrenaline rushing through the kid’s veins.

 

He readies himself for the fight too, he goes to stand behind the main entrance, pulling out his baton while he listens intently as footsteps get closer and closer.

 

As soon as the door opens he throws his billy clubs at the first guy, the rope tightens around his neck and Matt pulls it close to himself, knocking the breath out of the goon and incapacitating him for the time being.

 

The other three men draw their guns out and point them at him, cue Spider-Man swinging down from the ceiling and kicking one of the perps with such force to send him flying to the wall.

 

“Sorry, that was a little too harsh, my bad!” he apologises and without even looking he throws a web at the guy standing closer to him, disarming him first and then immobilising him. He then directs his attention to the other felon, who’s already getting up on his feet.

 

Matt is fast enough to throw a stick at the last thug’s hand, making him lose his grip on the gun, but the guy is quick to recover, he turns slightly to his side and kicks him right under his chin.

He exploits the force of the impact by pulling his knees to his chest and doing a flip, landing, if a bit clumsily, right on his feet.

He blocks the punch aimed at him with both hands, jumps up and kicks the man in the face, sending them both to ground, Matt on top.

Then he wraps his hands around his neck and keeps them there until he’s lost consciousness.

 

He hears the clicking of a gun before he even perceives Spider-Man standing next to him.

 

Right, the first perp. He didn’t disarm him.

 

The gun goes off, the shot echoing loudly in his ears.

 

He braces himself for the hit, he knows there’s no possible way he can get out of the bullet’s trajectory now.

He hears the bullet hit flesh, and he knows for a fact that it isn’t him to take it.

 

Spider-Man lets out a surprised gasp, his knees buckle and he hits the ground.

 

Suddenly he feels himself start seething, memories of Elektra letting out that same gasp and the realisation that this is a child that was shot, crashing down on him with the same violence of avalanche.

 

He charges at the criminal and tackles him to the ground. He starts punching him repeatedly and he doesn’t stop until his knuckles are bloodied and the guy’s unconscious.

 

He gets himself up on his legs and stumbles to the kid’s side.

 

He’s holding his hands to his stomach in an attempt to slow down the blood loss.

He’s breathing rapidly, probably hyperventilating and Matt can feel his whole body shaking.

 

“Hey, buddy. It’s okay” he kneels next to him and covers the bullet wound with his hand, pushing down hard on it. The kid lets out a whimper at the pressure and Matt’s quick to apologise.

 

The younger vigilante’s heart is beating so fast in his chest and he knows he has to get him to calm down or he’ll bleed out in half the time.

 

“Listen kid, you’re gonna be fine. I’ve got a friend, Claire, she’s great at this sort of things. She’s gonna fix you up real good, and you won’t even remember this ever happened, I promise”

 

“I- I never got shot before”

 

“Shouldn’t have jumped in front of that bullet, if you wanted to keep it that way” he realises that might have come out a little bit harsher than he intended, but in his defence he really has no idea how to handle this “Sorry, I’m sorry”

 

“’S okay, I’ve got super healing. Assumed you didn’t”

 

“My suit’s bulletproof, kid”

 

“Oh. That’s kinda cool”

 

“Yeah” Matt breathes, as his brain races to come up with the best solution to the situation “Do you think you can get up?”

 

Spider-Man answers by pushing himself up on his elbows, and crumbling back to the floor with a grunt of pain.

 

“Hey, hey take it easy”

 

“It hurts” he whimpers, and it makes Matt’s heart clench.

 

“I know. I know, but you’re gonna be okay”

 

“My- my uncle died like this, you know?”

 

He’s left searching for words to say at that, but before he can find any a loud sound approaching from above takes his attention.

 

The kid smiles, for some reason, and Matt is about to get ready to fight again when he hears him say “’S fine, it’s just Misser Stark”

 

“What?”

 

* * *

 

 

Tony is halfway through an anxiety attack when he gets to the warehouse.

 

He blasts the door off and pretty much runs in, his heart hammering in his chest.

 

He’s gotta have gotten here on time, he can’t be late. He can’t.

 

He spots the kid right away, on the floor.

A dark figure is kneeling next to him and Tony doesn’t even blink before he shoots a blast at them.

 

He frantically steps out of the suit and rushes to Peter’s side, pulling his mask up without a second thought.

 

The kid’s eyes are closed, and Tony does his best to not fully panic.

Instead he starts tapping his cheek to wake him up while he keeps pressure on the wound.

 

“C’mon kid, you can’t pull this crap on me”

Peter blinks up at him, his eyes slightly unfocused and Tony wants to slump down in relief at the sight.

 

“Y’re here”

 

“Yeah, I’m here. You scared the hell out of me, Underoos”

 

“S’rry” he says, forcing a smile that looks more like a grimace but that makes Tony feel warm with affection just the same.

 

He runs a hand through the kid’s forehead, pushing his sweaty hair away from his eyes.

 

Peter leans into his touch, seeking comfort in his pain and Tony almost can’t take it.

 

“You’re gonna be fine, I’m getting you out of here. A medical team is already waiting for us at the compound”

 

“Are we gon’ be flying?”

“Yeah” he says as he calls his suit and it begins to form around him “You feeling up to it?”

 

“I love flying”

 

“I know you do” he slides his hands under Peter’s knees and behind his back, and he lifts him up in a single movement.

 

The kid lets out a pained cry and he rests his head against the chest plate, shutting his eyes closed for a second.

 

“Sorry about that, kiddo” he apologises just above his breath as he begins to walk out.

 

Peter doesn’t bother answering him, which makes getting to the compound even more urgent in Tony’s mind.

 

He holds Peter close and takes off as soon as he gets one feet outside.

 

* * *

 

 

The first thing on his mind when he comes to is that Ned’s birthday is in two weeks and he still hasn’t gotten him a present.

 

Then, comes the numb ache in his lower abdomen.

He’s not hurting now, but he knows he must have been.

He can feel the ghost of pain and that’s all it takes for his memories start catching up to him.

 

He opens his eyes just to be met with far too bright lights and he groans at the harshness.

He has to blink a couple times before he gets adjusted to it.

 

Once he puts his surroundings into focus he’s not so surprised to find he’s in the Med-Bay, and even less so at the sight of Tony sitting on a chair next to his bed, reading through something on a tablet.

 

“Morning” he greets, a lazy grin on his lips.

 

His mentor looks up at him, apparently not surprised to see him awake and if Peter has to take a guess, probably highly exasperated at him.

 

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine, I think it’s mostly healed by now”

 

Tony frowns at him worriedly, as if he’s not sure he should believe him.

 

“You sure? You’re not in any pain at all?”

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, promise”

 

“Alright” he lays the tablet on the empty chair next to his and leans over as he runs a hand through his face tiredly “So you wanna tell me what the hell happened?”

“Oh my god, yes! It was so cool Mister Stark-“

“How is it cool that you got shot and gave me a heart attack?”

 

Peter rolls his eyes at that “Obviously not that part”

 

“Oh sorry, was it the part where you decided Spider-Man was going to start taking down mob members?”

“Wait, they were mob members?” His mouth falls slightly ajar at the discovery.

 

Tony stares at him for a second, then he sighs loudly “Of course you didn’t know that. You just happen to have the worst luck, which is not exactly doing wonders to my mental health”

 

“Why wouldn’t Daredevil tell me that?” He mumbles to himself, feeling kind of dumb for not figuring it out.

 

“Wait, what? Daredevil? Kid, you’re seriously trying to kill me here. Did he tell you to go after those guys? God, this doesn’t make any sense”

 

“No, I went with him. He was there when I heard you arrive, didn’t you see him? Or maybe he left?”

 

“If he left you there bleeding out I swear-“ Tony cuts himself off, realisation showing on his face “Oh”

“What?”

 

“I think I blasted him”

Peter doesn’t know whether he should be terrified or burst out laughing”

 

“What the hell? Why?”

 

“He was kneeling next to you, I thought he was hurting you!”

 

“Couldn’t you have waited to check-“

 

“No, I couldn’t!” Peter’s taken aback by the amount of emotion in Tony’s voice.

 

“I’m sorry” he looks away from him as he says: “All I could think of was getting to you and make sure you were safe, everything else didn’t really have much importance”

 

“That’s actually kind of sweet” he smiles holding out his hand for Tony to take.

 

“Shut up, you brat” he laughs as he takes it.

 

“Sorry I made you worry. And don’t worry about Daredevil, he’s probably fine. He told me his suit was bulletproof”

 

“Yeah well, I’m getting you one as soon as possible. And I will tell May about this whole thing”

 

“Aw, c’mon!”

**Author's Note:**

> hello there, thank you so much for reading!  
> this one shot was kind of a writing exercise for me, I've never written something this long, with less than an idea and more of a plot (not to talk about the fighting scenes, those were HARD) so I do know this is not exactly good, or not even better than my usual stuff. But I am quite happy I wrote this cause it kinda gave me something to work on, it was the demonstration that I could write longer stuff if I worked on it.  
> so yeah, if you have any feedback I'd love to hear what you think, what you liked and what you didn't and what I have to work on.  
> once again, I apologise for the eventual mistakes and incorrect use of English, and have a lovely day/night/afternoon!


End file.
